AFRY Unifies Global Teams to Boost Productivity with Panzura

Overview

AFRY, a global leader in engineering, design, and consulting with 18,000 engineers and partners across 100 offices worldwide, faced a significant challenge in modernizing its global enterprise file system. With a distributed workforce and a heavy reliance on large project files, particularly for applications like Revit, AFRY needed a solution that could unify its disparate data silos, improve collaboration, and reduce the high costs and complexity of its aging infrastructure. 

Challenges

AFRY’s legacy file platform was a patchwork of local storage solutions, leading to “file data silos” that hindered collaboration and created significant IT challenges. Key issues included slow performance, as end-users, especially those working remotely or across continents (Europe, Asia, Americas), experienced frustratingly slow file access and sync times.

Moreover, an aging network of storage nodes was difficult to maintain and needed to be migrated to modern platforms like Hyper-V and Azure. The legacy system was also plagued by data inconsistencies, such as downtime, corrupt files (e.g., 0 KB files), and broken metadata or locking, which resulted in a high volume of support tickets and project delays.  

Finally, teams faced significant collaboration barriers, as they were unable to work together in real-time on large-scale projects. This was particularly problematic for demanding applications like Revit, where slow model open times and a lack of real-time collaboration tools limited productivity and made it impossible to leverage talent across different geographic locations and time zones. 

As a multi-billion-dollar global engineering and design firm with over 30,000 employees and partners worldwide, speed and team productivity are critical to delivering world-class billion-dollar designs for our customers. With Panzura, we deployed ONE global cloud file system across all global sites, enabling engineers and designers to collaborate as ONE global team, dramatically increasing productivity and improving our bottom line.

Solution

AFRY chose to implement Panzura CloudFS, a hybrid multi-cloud file platform, to address these challenges. The architecture of CloudFS provided the “single source of truth” that AFRY’s distributed teams needed. The solution included a ring-based global architecture with distributed primary and failover nodes, which consolidated AFRY’s scattered file data into a single, cohesive file system.  

The CloudFS platform also seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Azure, allowing AFRY to leverage regional Azure Blob tiers for storage cost optimization as inactive and cold data were automatically moved to Azure's Cold Tier, significantly reducing on-premises storage costs.  

A critical feature of CloudFS is its global file locking, which eliminates cross-site edit conflicts for large engineering and design files, enabling teams in different offices to work on the same projects simultaneously without worrying about overwriting each other’s work. 

Additionally, CloudFS's Instant Node greatly reduced downtime during migrations and failover events, ensuring business continuity. Panzura Data Services (PDS) also provided deep analytics, search, and compliance tracking from a single dashboard, which simplified IT operations and offered a comprehensive view of the entire file network. 

Results: Outcomes & Value Delivered

The implementation of Panzura CloudFS delivered significant, quantifiable benefits to AFRY’s operations and business. AFRY saw significant storage cost savings because a large portion of inactive and cold data was successfully moved to Azure's Cold Tier. In addition, CloudFS's Instant Node resulted in near-zero downtime for many migrations and failovers, which ensures built-in resiliency and business continuity.  

Productivity was also improved as file access and sync problems were resolved, especially for remote and hybrid workers. The number of support tickets related to file locking, versioning, and ownership issues decreased significantly, which freed up valuable IT resources. Overall, cache statistics and performance improved, which reduced the number of "problematic nodes" over time. 

Unique value was also realized with CloudFS’s global file locking and byte-range locking features, which enabled real-time collaboration on complex projects like those built on Revit, allowing teams to leverage talent from any location. CloudFS's automation, orchestration, and advanced data services simplified IT management and reduced the need for manual interventions.  

Integrated compliance features, including geofencing and advanced auditing, prepared AFRY for audits and strengthened its reporting capabilities. Finally, the ability to instantly shift resources and assign projects to the right designers, regardless of their location, became a major competitive advantage.  

Conclusion

Modernizing its approach with CloudFS and PDS, AFRY transformed its IT infrastructure from a fragmented collection of file data silos into a unified, high-performance file system. This change not only resolved long-standing technical and operational challenges but also empowered AFRY’s distributed workforce to collaborate seamlessly, leading to faster, more reliable project delivery and a significant boost in overall productivity and profitability. The successful deployment of CloudFS has enabled AFRY to work more efficiently, deliver projects on time and on budget, and ensure a strong foundation for future growth. 

At a Glance

• Cost Savings: A large portion of inactive or cold data was successfully moved to Azure's Cold Tier, leading to significant storage cost savings.
• Reduced Downtime: Employing CloudFS's Instant Node functionality has resulted in near-zero downtime for many migrations and failovers, ensuring business continuity and resilience.
• Improved Productivity: File access and sync problems were resolved, increasing productivity and efficiency, especially for remote and hybrid workers.
• Reduced Support Tickets: The number of support tickets related to file locking, versioning, and ownership issues decreased significantly, freeing up IT resources.
• Optimized Performance: Cache statistics and overall performance improved, reducing the number of "problematic nodes" over time. 

Working alongside Panzura was as easy as it gets. It didn’t take long for the Panzura team to demonstrate the value they can bring to a customer, especially with a cloud-strategy and a data-driven culture. Panzura’s distributed file storage is a game-changer for any enterprise.